I am a big proponent of the celebration of birthdays, birthday weeks and birthday months — not only for myself but in honor of my friends and family as well. More importantly, birthdays are a great excuse to bring everyone together for a celebration and to reconnect. The following companies and ideas are taking birthdays to a whole new level. It will be exciting to see the evolution of the celebration!
1. Augmented Reality Birthday Cakes
This year Disney filed a patent that could truly change how birthdays are celebrated. They have a patent for an augmented reality birthday cake. This would allow Disney fairy tales to come to life, allowing the birthday girl or boy to interact with the characters. When I was little I thought the Barbie dress birthday cake was as good as it could get. Now kids will have Cinderella dancing in their dining room. Follow this link to view the augmented reality patent and read move about Disney’s plan.
2. Birthday (and Christmas) Shopping Just Got Easier.
Amazon and Facebook have recently launched a Friends and Family Gift giving feature. If you sync your Facebook and Amazon accounts and your friends and family do the same, you are now in gift giving heaven. Facebook will remind you when a friend’s birthday is coming as well as link you to their Amazon recommendations and wish lists. No longer will you be receiving the out-of-fashion sweater from a relative or left trying to think of a gift idea on the spot. Now, your clicks and purchases will guide your friends and family to the perfect gift for you! Learn more about the future of gift giving.
3. Oreo Sets the Standard for Birthday Celebrations
As I mentioned, I’m a fan of birthday weeks and birthday months, but a birthday year is on a whole other level. Throughout 2012, Oreo has been celebrating its 100th birthday with its Daily Twist campaign, which showcased Oreo cookies representing pop culture or national events each day. For a final birthday celebration, Oreo went to Antarctica with a package of 5,000 cookies, but more importantly donated the first solar powered Penguin Cam to scientist. I have some planning to do for my 100th year long celebration!
4. Brands Wishing You a Happy Birthday
To help celebrate your customer’s birthdays you don’t need to have an augmented reality cake, be Amazon and Facebook or travel to the South Pole – all you need to do is have an email database with a birthday field to make customers feel important. I love the month of December, not only for Holiday festivities, but also because my favorite brands send me Happy Birthday emails and offers. The recognition may be automatic, but it is nice to have the acknowledgement from the brands I interact with most.
As the marketing world evolves, birthday messages currently powered by CRM programs will move to be powered by Social CRM programs that will further be able to personalize my birthday message through my social media behavior.
